Rise: CW Develops Martial Law Drama from Vampire Diaries Team

by Cindy McLennan, August 25, 2016

Julie Plec is developing the Rise TV show with Chad Fiveash and James Stoteraux for The CW. (Photo: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com.)

With The Vampire Diaries approaching its eighth and final season, co-creator Julie Plec, and co-executive producers Chad Fiveash and James Patrick Stoteraux are developing Rise, a new series for The CW and Warner Bros. Television. Deadline reports Rise is a martial law drama, set after a terrorist attack. The trio first worked together on teen sci-fi drama, Kyle XY, which was cancelled after three seasons on ABC Family (now Freeform), in 2009.

Fiveash and Stoteraux went on to Legend of the Seeker, which was cancelled in 2010, after two seasons in first-run syndication; Glory Daze, which was cancelled after one season on TBS; and Switch at Birth, which too has been cancelled. Its fifth and final season will premiere on Freeform in January. The writing partners left Switched and boarded The Vampire Diaries beginning with its sixth season, in 2014.

Plec created The Tomorrow People reboot which was cancelled after one season on The CW. Her quarantine drama series, Containment was also cancelled after its only season, but she still has The Originals season four, and The Vampire Diaries season eight on that network (and her plate).

Here is more on Rise, from Deadline:

Rise, from WBTV and Plec’s studio-based My So-Called Company, is set following a terrorist attack. When martial law is declared, a disparate group of everyday people start to uncover that the attack was a cover-up for a homegrown coup. These unlikely heroes rise up against the tyranny of the new governmental regime, planting the seeds of hope and strength that will in time spark a Second American Revolution.

What do you think? How do you like the sound of the potential new Rise TV series? Which of this trio’s TV shows have you watched?